Silent Summer Nights
by lifeluver
Summary: What happened to us?" Three ways the B/L relationship could've happened and the one way it did.


3 Ways that Brooke and Lucas's relationship could've happened and the one way it did.

A/N: Newest oneshot, was going to have a total of 6 parts instead of 4, but I liked the way this turned out. It's definitely my longest story, reaching 17 pages, and it's interesting. Just to make it clear, they are three separate, unrelated what ifs for the BL relationship..

Anyway, I hope you like it, took a while, enjoy reading!

**I**

Brooke was sitting alone on the curb as the sun set one warm summer day, throwing rocks into the street. Her parents were now at least two hours late for picking her up from the park and she was getting hungry. Peyton's mother had picked her up, on time as always, but Brooke had insisted that her mother would be there any moment and there was no need to stay.

Now she wishes she could've swallowed her pride for once and asked for a ride.

She glances up at the thud of rubber hitting gravel and sees a blonde boy about her age wearing a gray sweatshirt shooting hoops at the basketball court a few yards away. She hopes he'll just leave her to sit alone and ponder her self pity.

Another car approaches and she looks away from the boy, only to be disappointed again when it continues by. She sighs and starts picking at the grass. Peyton's mother taught her how to use the grass to make a sound like a trumpet, but her own mom said that it wasn't ladylike to do such things. Well, she thinks, screw her, and in a rather pathetic act of rebellion she plucks a piece of grass and holds the end to her lips and blows.

Deep in concentration with her cheeks puffed out and her eyes narrowed, she doesn't notice absence of the rhythmic thudding of the ball until it gently bumps against her elbow. With one freshly manicured hand she reaches out and stops it from rolling down the hill as the boy from before jogs up to her, slightly out of breath.

"Thanks," he pants as she hands the ball back to him

She doesn't reply and gets back to her work with the piece of grass lifting it back to her mouth and blowing again, this time harder but still with no result.

"You know you're doing that wrong?" His voice jerks her out of her work; she hadn't realized he was still watching her.

She considers telling him to buzz off and leave her alone, but she looks at his kind face and his slightly lopsided smile and decides against it.

"Like you could do any better?" she asks. After all, she figures, she could use the company.

He doesn't respond immediately, instead he plops down beside her, basketball in his lap, and starts searching through the grass.

Eventually he faces her again, holding out one thick blade of perfectly green grass.

"Here, you need it to be pretty thick and long," he says as he gestures for her to take it.

She does, and puts it up to her mouth.

"Hang on, you need to put your hands like this," he mutters, before taking her hands and repositioning them around the blade; his large, warm hands covering her own. "Now try."

A loud honking comes out this time, and Brooke lets out a giggle that brings a smile to his face. She does it a few more times, enjoying the disturbance of the otherwise subdued suburban neighborhood before turning her attention back to the boy next to her.

"I'm Brooke," she says conversationally.

"Lucas," he responds and she smiles at him.

Before they can get any further a red convertible rumbles to a stop a few feet away from them and Brooke's mother is staring at them from behind a pair of sunglasses that cost more than Lucas' entire outfit. And, Brooke reasons, feeling particularly wise after her lesson in grass blowing, probably bring her mother less happiness than the free piece of grass clutched in her own hand.

She stands, waves bye to her Lucas and climbs into her mother's car. As they speed off her mother questions her about the boy: why she was talking to him, and didn't she know that he was Dan Scott's poor, bastard son?

While her mother talks Brooke fiddles with the blade of grass still in her hands, thinking that perhaps she had found a more effective way to rebel after all.

xxxoooo

"And then he was like, 'I'm sorry, Brooke, I can't do this anymore.' God, how lame of a line is that? Luke?"

Five years later Brooke was sprawled out on Lucas' bed while Lucas typed what he said was going to be a best selling novel one day.

"Earth to Lucas? I'm talking to you here!" Brooke huffed loudly and rolled her eyes at her best friend.

"Huh? Oh, sorry. You were talking abut Chase, right?" Lucas swiveled around to face her in his chair after closing his laptop.

"Yeah. Can you believe he dumped me like that? Honestly, stupid Clean Teens." Lucas nodded enthusiastically, and Brooke laughed at his reaction. "Still upset about Shelly? Jeez, Luke, that was months ago."

Lucas climbed onto the bed next to Brooke and she nestled her head on his stomach. They sat in comfortable silence for a while, listening to the song blasting from the radio.

Then the silence was ruined.

"Oh my God, Lucas! I have a great idea!" Brooke sprang up as the song came to its end, bouncing on the bed with a gleam in her eye that Lucas knew all too well.

"What?" he asks warily, leaning up against the back of his bed, deciding to brace himself.

"We should start our own club! Way better than the stupid Clean Teens. We'll be the Unclean Teens!"

Lucas let out a snort of laughter, but knew Brooke was far from finished.

"We'll meet once a week, and just, I dunno, have sex! Yeah, every week our entire meetings will be having sex."

"Well, we're going to have to get a room next to the Clean Teens so they can hear us and be jealous of our way cooler club." If you can't beat them, might as well join them.

"You're a genius! It'll be like a biweekly event where we just have sex with each other."

"Each other? Like you and me?"

Brooke pauses for a moment, then looks back up at Lucas' laughing eyes and rolled her own. "You wish Broody."

She squeals when he lunges for her, grabbing her by her thin waist and tickling.

xxxooooo

It was a warm June night that would've been peaceful if it wasn't for the music blasting from stereos and the shouts of recently graduated seniors echoing from the beach.

Lucas stood back from the pack, preferring to keep himself isolated from the mounds of people competing to pass out first. He held his own cup of beer in his hand and sipped at it as he stared out at the ocean, waves crashing quietly out in the distance.

He hadn't been to the beach much since it happened; for the most part he had just stayed in his room, brooding with Brooke.

As he sits down in the sand he never takes his eyes off the ocean. He wonders if he could just swim to the other side would everything would be different. Would it be better? Could he start a new life, far away from Tree Hill and all of its memories and pain? Or was he destined to be Dan Scott's illegitimate son everywhere he went?

Just as he is deciding that he may as well give it a shot a hand comes out of no where to lie on his shoulder. Brooke sits down next to him and carefully pries the cup of beer from his hand.

As she watches him stare at the ocean, she thinks she finally understands why people do selfless acts no matter how stupid they are. Because right then, she thinks she would do just about anything for Keith to have been able to see his nephew graduate.

He leans his head on her shoulder and she hugs him tightly, not knowing what else to do. She holds him just as he has held her so many times over the years and hopes it's enough.

And for that moment, it is.

xxxoooo

"Do you ever think about that night?"

Brooke was lying on their king sized bed watching Lucas try to tie his tie with a thoughtful expression on her face.

"What night?"

"The night we met. Do you ever wonder what would've happened if you hadn't lost your ball? Or if I had just ignored you?"

Lucas abandoned the attempt to make his tie even and turned to face Brooke, who was in a rare introspective mood that night.

"Well, I wouldn't be married to the most beautiful woman on Earth for starters," he replied playfully, running his hand through her curled hair.

Brooke turned around, thoughtful expression gone and replaced by a mischievous smile he recognizes.

"Got that right, Broody," she whispers sexily and pulls him onto the bed by his loose tie.

**II**

"I'm pregnant."

Lucas could feel the breath leave his body as his mouth opened and closed, resembling a fish torn from the ocean and tossed carelessly onto a ships floor.

"The doctor called and it's for real. I'm pregnant Lucas."

"Oh."

They stand there in silence, trapped in his room that is too small to hold the mountain of emotions threatening to suffocate them both. It is the same room that was home to so many memories of their blossoming relationship, and of its abrupt end.

Brooke looks up and tries to catch Lucas' eye, but he stubbornly ignores her attempts, choosing instead to focus intently on a dirty spot on his wall.

She lets her face fall into her hands and composes herself before standing up and moving towards the door. As her hand lands on the door knob Lucas lets out a strangled, unrecognizable noise that causes her to stop and turn to face him again. He looks helplessly at her, as if hoping she holds the answers for this situation, and she stares right back. They stay like that for a few minutes that seemed like hours before a crash from the kitchen jerks them from their trance.

Brooke's body leads her out of his house and back into her car as if on auto-pilot and Lucas sinks into a chair watching her go.

And their worlds come tumbling down.

xxxooo

"Brooke! Hey, Brooke!"

Brooke looks at him, hair disheveled and out of breath and couldn't stop herself from rolling her eyes.

"I'll meet up with you guys later, okay?" Her friends leave without her as the bell rang. "Did you need something Lucas?

"We can do this. We can do it Brooke."

Brooke stares at him in disbelief. "You are not doing this now. Not here," she whispers, looking around her.

"No, Brooke, you don't understand," says Lucas desperately. "I've been reading baby books all weekend, and we can do this. I know it. I can get a job, and you can stay in school, and-"

"Lucas, stop it. Please, just stop," Brooke pleads, her voice getting softer as tears welled up in her eyes. "We'll talk later."

"Brooke, please."

But Brooke had already run off for the nearest bathroom as mascara tracks slip down her cheeks.

xxxooo

Over a week later Brooke pulls up to the Rivercourt late at night. She climbs out of her car and walks over to the bench where she had first watched him play with his friends all those months ago. The full moon shines above her and looking up at the night sky she suddenly feels so small, so insignificant, and so different from the larger-than-life girl she had been when she was in his arms.

She doesn't know how much time passes, but she becomes aware of a jacket slung around her shoulders and a warm body sitting next to her. They sit in silence that somehow seems fitting, because she knows that words aren't enough to fix this, aren't enough to put things back the way they were, aren't enough to convey how they feel.

As the sun begins to rise in the distance and light creeps across his face she finally opens her mouth.

"What about Peyton?" Her voice comes out barely over a whisper, but he hears and turns to look at her, instantly understanding everything she is trying to say without actually saying it. He always did.

"I- I don't know. But this is more important. You're more important, Brooke." She thinks he might be sincere, he might really mean it. She nods and lets him sling a muscular arm around her shoulders and she buries her head in his chest.

xxxooooo

She's five months pregnant when she starts showing. People are pointing and whispering behind her back, but Lucas takes her shopping at a maternity store in some outlet mall, and she thinks maybe she doesn't care if they talk.

Lucas is now working part time at his uncles Body shop, and she's even told her parents (though she waited until after the three month mark to do that) who were as supportive as they ever would be, and some days she doesn't wake up hating life.

Brooke figures that she is doing pretty well.

xxxooo

She's seven months pregnant when Lucas asks her to marry him. He took her out one night while she complained about needing to pee and before she knew it they were at the Rivercourt and he was on one knee.

Brooke is pretty sure she went into cardiac arrest, while he is holding the miniature ring and before she can comprehend what is going on she is running (waddling) off and he is yelling after her.

When she stops running and sits down he sits next to her. She looks at him, and feels just the least bit bad for running away. He looks dejected and hurt, but beneath her initial guilt she thinks maybe he deserves it for cheating on the girl who he knocked up.

He apologizes, promises not to mention it again, and offers to give her a ride home. He lifts her to her huge feet and helps her back to the car in silence.

When they pull up to her house she doesn't move. She doesn't think she's said a word since he held that ring up to her. She still needs to pee.

Finally she turns to him and is embarrassed to realize that there are tears in her eyes.

"Luke, I can't." He nods, but she doesn't think he understands. "It wouldn't be right." He's not looking at her and she gives up and heaves herself out the car door.

With one last glance at Lucas she whispers, "You don't love me," before closing the door and making her way up the front porch.

xxxooo

The next few weeks are awkward, but Lucas keeps his promise and doesn't mention that night and still comes to every doctor appointment she had.

The baby is healthy, they said, and is due sometime in the summer. Brooke doesn't want to know the baby's gender, preferring to be surprised. Lucas goes along with it, even though she knows he wanted to know the very moment they could.

After the end of the school year Brooke arrived home to see her mother's usual twelve shopping bags, but no sign of her mother. She waded through the bags, intending to go right upstairs and straight to sleep, but stopped when she a brightly colored bag caught her eye.

When she pulled a baby blanket and bib from the Gymboree bag her heart warmed and tears formed in her eyes for what seemed like the tenth time that day (stupid hormones).

The next time Victoria Davis saw her daughter she was startled to receive a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

xxxooo

Brooke is eight and a half months pregnant and as big as a whale when she goes into labor.

Lucas is dashing up the stairs of her house mere minutes after she calls him frantically and half holding, half carrying her into the car.

Karen is in the back seat with her telling her how to breathe and Lucas is driving like a maniac and Brooke just hurts everywhere.

In her room Lucas is holding her hand tightly and she is cursing him out for the stupid Scott sperm and everything else she can think of.

Sixteen painful, sweaty hours later and Ryan Matthew Davis Scott is born.

Lucas is lying next to her in the hospital bed holding Ryan in his arms while Brooke stares, still awed, at the little person she made.

"He's beautiful, isn't he?" she asks, voice hoarse from all the screaming.

"Just like his mother," Lucas responds before passing the baby to Brooke to hold.

Brooke has no idea what she is going to do. She doesn't know how she'll make it through school, or support the baby looking up at her. She doesn't have any more answers than she did eight and a half months ago, but a hell of a lot more questions.

But, as she looks at Lucas who is still staring at the baby in awe, she knows she'll figure it out, and maybe, just maybe, everything will be okay after all.

**III**

"Tell me that was a goodbye kiss."

"I wanna be with you Brooke." His voice is hoarse and his eyes are searching her face for some sign of approval, or happiness. "I know we're friends, it's just how I feel."

She's taken a step back in shock and confusion. "What about Peyton's stuff?"

"I keep that stuff as a reminder of how badly I screwed up things. With you. To remind myself that if I ever get a second chance, I'd never let you go again."

Tears are welling up in her eyes and she can't believe this is happening, that it's happening now, as the cab honks in the background, calling her for the summer in California.

"I-I don't know what to say," her voice wavers as the honking becomes more insistent. "I uh, I gotta go," she whispers, trying to control the tears threatening to fall.

"Brooke! Do you think, you could ever-"

"Lucas, I'm sorry, but I- I gotta go." Brooke opens the door and looks at him one last time, and notes how heartbroken he looks. How sad and broken he seems, and she remembers when she had that same look. She promised herself that she'd never make anyone feel what he had made her feel.

Her hand is on the door and eyes are on the ground, but her feet remain stationary. She feels trapped in her own body, her mind is willing her legs to move but her body won't listen.

"Brooke?" his voice is barely above a whisper and she knows he's watching her and she just wants to run and hide, but she's been hiding for months now and his eyes are boring a hole through her skull, she can feel him and-

She swiftly turns around and her hands grab his face to pull him in for a kiss, passionate and desperate, her body's last effort to convince her mind to let it take over. After a shocked moment he returns the kiss and she falls into his strong arms, lets him caress her back, grabbing hungrily. As his tongue enters and her eyes close, the world fades into the background, the honking cab softens, her worries cease, and her mind stops working.

They let go of their inhibitions and succumb to what they've wanted for so long, but never knew how to have.

After minutes, hours, days, she pulls away, lips swollen and breathing heavily. "Hi," she whispers, staring into his eyes.

"What made you change your mind?" he asks carefully, as if saying the wrong thing will wake him from this dream and cruelly throw him back into the dark realms of reality.

"I just realized," she starts with a smile. "I didn't really have to go." He smiles with her and they're wrapped up in each other for a moment, enjoying the comfortable silence.

He sits on the bed and pats it down next to him. Instead, she crawls onto his lap, his chin positioned over her head.

"So what are your parents gonna say about this?" he asks curiously, with a quirk of his eyebrow that Brooke thinks is so adorable.

"Oh, you know them. They probably won't even notice," she replies easily, trying not to show the truth behind those words, and pretending she doesn't notice that his grip around her waist tightens almost imperceptibly, but just enough to let her know that he cares.

"Is this for real? Like, are we really going to do this?" he sounds scared, but slightly hopeful.

Brooke looks up at him and stares for a moment, trying to remember all the reasons she had given herself proving that the exact thing she is doing is such a bad idea. But at that moment, with his arms protectively around her she can't seem to recall a single one.

"Yeah Broody. We are. Or, we're gonna try. After all, it is summer, maybe some time away from school and other people will be just what we need." She leans back up against him again.

"We can do this Brooke. I know we can. I mean, I am the guy for you," he adds slyly, with a slight smile.

Brooke laughs and replies, "Oh yeah? The guy for me? I don't know, I've got many guys Luke."

He silences her with another kiss. "And you know what else?" he says after he breaks the kiss. "You just happen to be the girl for me."

"Funny how that works out, isn't it?" she whispers sexily in his ear, before nibbling playfully on it.

They fall backwards on the bed, laughing between kisses and Brooke thinks that hiding isn't always the best option.

xxxooo

Hours later they're lying on his bed watching the warm June sun set when Brooke looks up from her position on Lucas' lap and says, "I'm hungry."

Lucas stares at his girlfriend in slight surprise before responding, "Well, what do you want?"

"Ice cream. I think we should go out for ice cream."

Lucas shrugs, resigned to the fact that he would be forced to leave his bed, and moves towards the keys.

"No, let's walk. It's pretty out, it'll be romantic." Brooke smiles her dimpled smile at him and he caves almost instantly, smiling back, and receiving a quick peck for his agreeability.

By the time they got their ice cream and were walking home, licking each other's cones, night had fallen.

"God, Luke, you're such a pig. This is my side of the cone," Brooke giggles.

"I am so not a pig. You're going to make me self-conscious."

"Oh, don't worry Broody, you'll keep your girlish figure until- hey whats that?" Brooke points to a light in the distance.

"I don't know, looks like a fire," Lucas says as he starts jogging closer.

"Lucas, wait up!" Brooke follows suit, and they reach Dan Scott Motors to find it completely engulfed in fire.

"Oh my God, Lucas! Do you think any one is in there?" Brooke asks fearfully. "Lucas?" she asks again when he doesn't respond. She looks at her boyfriend to see him walking carefully towards the window.

"Lucas, get back here!" Brooke screams, terrified.

"I think Dan's in there, I'll be right back Brooke," he answers, not looking back from the entrance to the dealership.

"Luke, no! Get back here and we'll call the firemen! Lucas!" But it was no use, he waves her off and runs into the fire, leaving her alone on the outside, searching her pockets for a cell phone, only to discover she had left it in her suitcase.

Brooke looks around herself desperately, willing a car to pass or someone to be walking the streets, but the neighborhood is deserted. She turns back to the dealership, where her boyfriend of three hours has just rushed in to save a man that he hates, and in the back of her confused and scared mind she wishes she hadn't wanted that ice cream so much.

The next minute feels like an eternity, and Brooke can't figure out why Lucas isn't coming back out. It's been too long, he should have been out by now, and the fire is blazing higher and more threatening, and why hasn't anyone seen the fire yet?

Finally, Brooke knows she has to take matters into her own hands. She edges close to the fire, ignoring the smoke that is making it harder and harder to breathe. She reaches the door to the dealership and covers her hand in her shirt and pulls it open.

Once inside Brooke feels the heat hit her full on and she can't breathe through all the smoke. It had never occurred to her how bright the light from the fire was, and her eyes start watering almost immediately.

"Lucas?" she screams through the haze. When there is no answer she walks further in, ignoring the cracking from the ceiling threatening to give way, and the flames surrounding her.

"Lucas?" she screams louder, more desperate, as she turns the corner.

Finally she catches sight of him by where Dan Scott's desk once was, barely a dark outline in a haze of orange and fear. He turns to her in surprise, almost dropping what he is carrying and starts yelling something she can't make out as a loud crash comes from right behind her, causing her to jump and hit her.

He is coming closer, still yelling, or coughing at her, dragging something heavy. As he nears her she almost screams in shock again, but can't because the smoke enters her mouth as she opens it and she is overcome with coughs. Lucas is dragging the limp form of Dan Scott.

Brooke doesn't realize she has been stationary until there is another loud booming and Lucas grabs her and pulls her out of the way from a falling piece of the ceiling.

Lucas is pulling at her, yanking by her shirt, and she can't see anything except orange; can't smell anything but smoke; can't feel anything but the heat coming at her from all angles; can't hear anything except the crackling of flames and crashing of the building falling all around her; can't taste anything but her own fear, a strong bitter taste in her mouth, a cold trickle down her throat.

When she blinks back into vision she is lying on the parking lot ground, under Lucas' protective arm and next to an unconscious Dan Scott.

She takes a deep, shuddering breath of air that isn't contaminated by smoke, and feels a sense of relief seep through her body. Then she starts coughing. Somewhere in the middle of her coughing fit Brooke feels a strong hand on her back, holding her while she steadies herself.

"Lucas?" she whispers when she can breathe again.

He's looking at Dan, feeling around his neck to find a pulse and she looks back to see the building still raging under fire and realizes she can't have been unconscious for too long. She hears the sirens in the distance, and can't get the smell of smoke out of her system. She wonders if she ever will.

Lucas stops examining Dan, appearing satisfied, and looks up when he hears sirens. He looks surprised, and glances down at Dan before slowing getting to his feet and lifting her up with him.

"What're you doing?" she asks softly, trying not to irritate her voice.

"Come on," he mutters, pulling her away from the dealership forcefully, half-walking half-running down the street.

Brooke can't get the energy to pull back so she allows him to pull her along, until after a few minutes they collapse on the Rivercourt.

They sit in silence, Brooke trying to process what just happened, and still trying to get her breath back.

"What the hell were you thinking?" Lucas asks roughly, startling Brooke.

"What?" she asks, still in shock.

"What the hell is your problem coming in there? You could've died, Brooke!" he is almost yelling, but his voice is hoarse.

Brooke looks at him, now recovered from her shock and feeling anger pulsing through her.

"What was I thinking? I was thinking that my boyfriend had just run into a burning building and that he wasn't coming out! What the hell do you think I was doing? I was trying-" but she was cut off by him pulling her into a rough kiss.

It wasn't like all their previous kisses, which had been tender and loving. This time he seemed hard, and desperately trying to taste her, as if reassuring himself that she was still there. It lasted a longer time, a few minutes before it was cut off by a fit of coughing.

"Shh," she whispers gently in his ear. "We're okay. I'm okay, it's all going to be okay." She thinks the inevitable conversation about his hero complex will have to wait until they've calmed down, and recovered from the night's events.

He breathes deeply and haggardly, and whispers, "I thought- I thought you-you were,"

"I'm fine," Brooke interrupts, stroking his blond hair. "I'm fine. Just calm down, sweetie, just take deep breaths." His head leans into her shoulder, and her hands wrap around him, holding him tightly, now reassuring herself that he's still there with her.

She looks down and sees the discoloration of his hands and upper arms.

"You're hurt," Brooke mumbles into his hair.

"It's no big deal, they're just burns," he whispers hoarsely.

Brooke looks at him, then back down to his arms, and leans in, letting her mouth gently graze his hand. Her lips move up, caressing his arms carefully, making her way up his upper arm until she reached his neck, where she pushed him onto the grass and climbed over his chest, lips never leaving the tender side of his neck.

Her hands snaked under his shirt, as his came up under her backside, caressing, and then searching for the buckle. She lifted his shirt off and tossed it a few feet aside and began kissing the burns on his chest as he pulled down her pants. She kicked them off her ankles and moved her hands from his waist to his belt, yanking it off in one swift motion, before pulling his pants down hard, and leaning down between his legs.

xxxooo

They lie naked near the empty court, feeling small against the night sky, tangled up in each other as Lucas' watch illuminates at midnight.

"We made it," says Brooke, interrupting the quiet summer night.

"What?" Lucas asks, not looking away from the sky.

"Our first day. We made it through our first day together."

Lucas laughs, a little half-heartedly, but still laughs, which Brooke thinks is a pretty big achievement for a night as tough as the one they've had.

"Yeah, I guess we have. Do you think every day will be as hard as this?"

"Maybe," she replies, and Lucas groans. "But that's not the point. Do you still love me?"

Lucas turns to face her full on and answers seriously, "Of course I do. Always."

"They we'll be fine. After all, if made it through this year, what can't we handle?"

**IV And the one way it did**

"Leave me alone."

"I'm not pregnant."

"I have to go."

The summer breeze whisks through her short hair as she climbs from her car and examines her long awaited destination. The court is almost exactly as she remembers it, and yet nothing like it.

She walks out into the center, looking around the place she once called home. Their signatures from years ago have long since faded, the surrounding trees are starting to die, the rim of the basketball hoop is lopsided and the backboard is spray painted with graffiti. But, if she squints, she can practically see the group of them playing basketball, screaming and giggling, or the Rivercourt boys playing while she and Mouth sat on the sideline and cheered.

"Brooke Davis," a voice interrupted her day dream and she turned to face it's owner.

"Lucas Scott," she responds slightly coldly, appraising him as he walks towards her. He's gained a bit of weight, has more of a scruff, and his blonde hair appears to be graying slightly. But he's still the handsome boy she remembers from high school.

"Been a long time," he states slowly, looking her over.

It had. Brooke remembers clearly the last time they spoke. It had been the night before his wedding to Peyton, and he had gotten drunk.

_"Whoa there Luke, careful. Shouldn't Nathan be lugging your half unconscious body to your apartment? He is the best man after all."_

_Lucas muttered something incomprehensible into her shoulder and she rolled her eyes. She managed to drag him to his couch, where she dropped him unceremoniously. He was still muttering something and she sat down beside him to try and decipher the muffled words. _

_"Brooke," he murmured._

_"Yeah?" she asked curiously, leaning closer._

_He closed the gap and his lips were over hers in a wet, slobbery kiss. She pulled away after a stunned moment, pushing him back to a lying position on the couch._

_"What the hell are you doing?" _

_"I love you Brooke," he says strongly, sounding less confused and drunk than he had all night._

_"No," she whispers. "Peyton."_

_"It's not the same, it never was. It's always been you, Brooke," he says as he leans in and tries to kiss her again._

_"No, stop it! Get off me!" her voice is raising to a shout, and she pushes him more forcefully. _

_"Come on Brooke. I know you feel the same way, don't tell me you don't." _

_She looks at him, his piercing eyes staring right through her defenses as they always have. She takes a deep, steadying breath and stares right back at him._

_"You had every chance Lucas. You are marrying Peyton tomorrow. It's too late."_

_She walks out before he can get another word out and slams the door behind her. She wipes the tears away quickly, and continues out of the apartment._

She had gone to the wedding the next day, out of respect for Peyton, but skipped the reception. Since that day she hadn't seen him, and had slowly cut off contact with Peyton.

Now, she was 37 and single, and very lonely. Her fashion line continued to be a success, but she had no friends in the business. She had longed for a child to fill the void in her life, but had never had time to raise one, and refused to do to a child what her parents had done for her.

Lucas, according to Haley, had married Peyton twice and was currently divorced and sharing their 10 year old son while attending AA meetings twice a week.

Brooke now stands across from Lucas, a few feet in between them. Former lovers, current strangers examine each other, sizing the other up, with nothing but a heavy blanket of awkward silence in between them.

The summer breeze whisks around them again.

"What happened to us?"

A/N: Review, tell me if you liked it or hated it. And tell me if you'd be interested in me fleshing out one of more of these scenarios into longer stories. Thanks for reading!


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